Mackay Queensland Area

There
are some nice places in the region around Mackay
Queensland.

North of Capricorn
Coast is Whitsunday Coast with the famous
Whitsunday
Islands off the coast of Airlie Beach,
and the Mackay Region with Cape Hillsborough National Park and the
lovely Finch Hatton in the lush Eungella
National Park - famous as a good place to see platypus.

In the inland are some mining
towns such as Clermont and Moranbah, and further north is the Big
Mango.

Cape Hillsborough by michael40001 via Flickr.com

Mackay Travel InformationMackay
is a busy city surrounded by tropical rainforests and sugar cane
fields. In the
city centre, there are some beautiful historical buildings such as the
Old Court House and Masonic Lodge. In the Queens Park are the
Botanic Gardens with an orchid house.
Mackay's southern beaches are Harbour Beach, Town Beach and Illawong
Beach, and the northern beaches are along the coast off Dolphin Heads,
Eimeo and Bucasia. Places to stay include holiday apartments
such as Quest
Apartments and The
Shores Holiday Apartments; resorts such as Allure
Resort on the Beach, Comfort
Resort Blue Pacific, Dolphin
Heads Resort and Reef
Resort; hotels such as Clarion
Hotel and Quality
Hotel Ocean International; and motels such as Coral
Sands Motel, International
Lodge Motel and Windmill
Motel.

Mackay Queensland
Region -
Eungella National Park
Inland from Mackay is Eungella
National Park - a pocket of lush
rainforest up in the mountains, which due to its isolation from
other rainforests contain some endemic species such as Eungella
honeyeaters, orange-sided skinks and three species of frog. Eungella is
also famous as a good place to see platypus.

Eungella National Park. by
Werkmens via
Flickr.com

Mackay Queensland
Region -
Finch Hatton
There are two sections in the Eungella National Park. The northernmost
is Finch Hatton,
where there
is a lovely rainforest swimming hole a
nice rainforest walk away from the carpark. There are also picnic areas
and barbeques, and lots of wildlife.

Finch Hatton. by Gouldy99 via Flickr.com

Broken River -
the Place to See Platypus
The other section, Broken
River,
is where you can see the platypus.
There is a picnic area
from which there are short walks to the Broken River. Near the bridge
over Broken River, there is a platypus-viewing platform where you can
silently wait for the platypus, you’ll also see freshwater turtles
here.

By Stonestreet's Coaches - The Extra Mile via Flickr.com

Mackay Queensland
Region -
Moranbah and Clermont
Further inland from Mackay are the mining towns Moranbah and Clermont.
Moranbah is
not much more than
a miners’ settlement, but Clermont
has
got some interesting history.

It is Queensland’s oldest tropical inland
town, which was moved to higher grounds in 1916, after a flood
that
killed 65 people. There is a tree stump that shows the levels of
floodwaters, and a piano up in a tree. There is also the Historical
Society Museum, and tours to
Blair
Athol Mine. It’s an interesting few hours
driving around the mine site and watching how coal is mined and loaded
on looooong trains to be transported to the coast.

Blair Athol Mine. by lockthegate via Flickr.com

Mackay Queensland Region
-
Cape Hillsborough
North of Mackay is the small but scenic Cape
Hillsborough National
Park with some short bushwalking tracks that
take you up the
hills where you
have magnificent views over the bright blue waters. Wedge Island is
joined to Cape Hillsborough at the low tide only so don’t get stuck
there. Cape Hillsborough NP by michael40001 via Flickr.com

Mackay Queensland
Region - Brampton
Island Australia
Off the coast of Mackay is Brampton
Island – another fantastic island
of the Great
Barrier Reef which is excellent to snorkel.
There are also two good bushwalking tracks, one (2km) takes you 219m up
to the top of the island’s central mountain, while the other (7km) goes
all the way around the island. At low tide, Brampton Island is
connected to Carlisle Island which is covered in eucalypt
forests.
There are no bushwalking there but there are national parks camping
grounds with barbeques, a rainwater tank and a shelter. The place to
stay is Brampton
Island Resort.

Bowen. by Marie Matthews via Flickr.com

Mackay Queensland
Region -
The Big Mango and Bowen
North of Mackay and the Whitsundays
are the small towns Bowen, Ayr and Home
Hill. Bowen
was the first
settlement north of Rockhampton when it was
founded, today it is the main fruit picking centre and many backpackers
stay here while working on fruit farms between April and November.

It
is not surprising then that the town’s 'Big
Thing' is The Big Mango.
Bowen also has a nice boat harbour, the Bowen Historical Museum; and an
old cinema on the beach. But
it is
now most famous as the town where the movie Australia
was filmed in 2007.

Mackay Queensland
Region -
Burdekin River and Ayr
Further north towards Townsville
are Ayr and Home Hill. Home
Hill
is a small town known for its large gem, rock and souvenir shop. Just
north of Home Hill is the famous Burdekin River Bridge.

In Ayr you
can visit the Ayr
Nature Display; and the places to stay include Ayr
Max Motel, Ayr
Travellers Motel and Parkside
Motel. North of Ayr is the Australian Institute of Marine
Science on the top of Cape Cleveland which is protected in the
beautiful
Bowling Green Bay
National Park.

Burdekin River Bridge. by robstephaustralia via Flickr.com

Here's a map of Mackay region, where I
have tagged
the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags
to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to
zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and
if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on
"Sat" in the top right hand corner.

Using this Website

Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.

Disclaimer: Although
best efforts have been made to ensure
that all the information on this site is correct,
gondwananet.com is not to be blamed should there be a mistake.

Copyright notice:
All contents of this website are strictly protected
by the Law of Copyright. What
does that mean?